Spotify Worth $4 Billion?

Spotify Worth $4 Billion?Music streaming service Spotify is in a current fundraising round that would value the company at approximately $4 billion, according to a report in The New York Times. A $4 billion valuation would make Spotify one of the most valuable music companies, surpassing Warner Music Group, which was acquired for $3.3 billion last year, and EMI Music's recorded music division, which was acquired for $1.9 billion, and publishing division, which was acquired for $2.2 billion in 2011. (5/18)

Adele Among Ivor Novello Awards WinnersGRAMMY winner Adele won two awards for Songwriter of the Year and Most Performed Work for "Rolling In The Deep" at the 57th Ivor Novello Awards, which recognizes the best songwriters and composers in Ireland and the UK, on May 17 in London. Additional winners included Lana Del Rey, PJ Harvey and Ed Sheeran. GRAMMY winner Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits received the Lifetime Achievement award, while the Special International Award went to GRAMMY-winning songwriter Jimmy Webb. (5/18)

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Adele Leads Novello Noms, Puts Takes Pulitzer

Adele Leads Novello Noms, Puts Takes PulitzerNominations for the 57th Ivor Novello Awards have been announced with GRAMMY winner Adele in the lead with four nominations, including Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Rolling In The Deep" and the Album Award for 21. Additional nominees include Kate Bush, Lana Del Rey, PJ Harvey, Florence & The Machine, and Neyo, among others. The awards, which reward excellence in songwriting and composing, are presented by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in association with PRS for Music and will take place May 17 in London. In related awards news, composer Kevin Puts has won the Pulitzer Prize for music for composing the music for his first opera, Silent Night. (4/17)

Two Services Account For 90 Percent Of SoundExchange Revenues?Internet radio services Pandora and SiriusXM Radio accounted for 90.4 percent of SoundExchange's total annual revenues in 2011, according to figures provided by Live365 attorney Angus McDonald and reported by Digital Music News. With Pandora accounting for 37 percent of revenues, as previously reported, SiriusXM Radio, with more than 22 million subscribers, accounts for more than half of the performance rights organization's annual collections, according to the figures assembled by McDonald. (4/17)

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Ed Sheeran's "Shape Of You" Takes Spotify First From Drake

Everything is up for Ed Sheeran who bumped Drake from the top spot on Spotify's most-streamed song leaderboard. "Shape Of You" climbed to more than 1.318 billion streams, while "One Dance" didn't keep up at more than 1.317 billion — a difference of more than a million streams. You might say for Sheeran that everything is "Perfect."

Billboard notes back in March when Sheeran's Divide album was released it received the most first-day streams, more than 56 million, and "Shape Of You" at the same time had the best one-day Spotify record with 10 million.

The same observant eye noted the other leaderboard Sheeran has yet to top — most-streamed artist overall, a title Drake still holds. It's like an uphill race for most likable, run between two super likables.

Guns N' Roses to Depeche Mode: 10 tours that are stealing the show

From top dogs Guns N' Roses to the rest of the GRAMMY-winning and -nominated top 10 touring artists, take a look at the hard sales data from 2017 tours so far

Renée Fabian

GRAMMYs

Jul 20, 2017 - 12:11 pm

GRAMMY.com

While festival season may be in full swing, it's also that time of year when we get a peek inside the highest grossing tours of the year, so far. And the numbers don't lie — you've been going to a lot of live concerts!

Let's start with the big numbers. The top 50 worldwide tours have grossed a combined $1.97 billion in ticket sales, according to Pollstar's mid-year report. Even more exciting are the North American numbers, where the top 100 tours and their gross profit of $1.64 billion topped last year's industry record of $1.47 billion by 11 percent.

But I'm sure you're really wondering who took the top spot on the highest grossing tours list, and if you guessed Guns N' Roses, you would be correct. Their worldwide tour has earned the GRAMMY-nominated rockers $151.5 million from a total of nearly 1.4 million individual ticket sales.

Coming in at No. 2 was U2's worldwide tour, which grossed the GRAMMY winners $118.1 million, and No. 3 was GRAMMY winner Justin Bieber at $93.2 million in sales.

Capitol Records and The Recording Academy's GRAMMY Recordings will release the 2013 GRAMMY Nominees album on Jan. 22 and provide music and GRAMMY fans two chances to attend the 55th or the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards. The album features 22 critically acclaimed smash hits from myriad chart-topping artists from various genres.

The 19th edition of the best-selling collection includes songs from GRAMMY categories representing nominees for Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Album.

In conjunction with the 2013 GRAMMY Nominees album, Capitol Records and The Recording Academy will offer two opportunities to attend the annual GRAMMY Awards. First, when pre-ordering the 2013 GRAMMY Nominees album at www.grammy.com/2013grammyalbum by Jan. 21, music fans can enter to win a trip to the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 10. Additionally, providing another chance to win tickets to Music's Biggest Night, each 2013 GRAMMY Nominees album purchased in stores will include a special game piece featuring a unique entry code for the GRAMMY Ticket Game. To participate, the code must be entered at www.grammy.com/2013grammyalbum for the opportunity to win a trip for two to the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards in 2014. The second-place winner will receive other official GRAMMY Awards merchandise.

The album is made possible by a special arrangement with all of the major music distribution companies and rotates labels from year to year. A portion of the proceeds from the album benefit the MusiCares Foundation and the GRAMMY Foundation — two charitable organizations established by The Recording Academy.

The 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held Sunday, Feb. 10 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, and will be broadcast live in high-definition TV and 5.1 surround sound on the CBS Television Network from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).

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